Briefing to the Diplomatic Corps and Development Partners

23 June 2025, 4 PM, Park Hotel

Dear Deputy Ministers, 

Excellencies, 
Distinguished development partners,
Colleagues and friends,

I would like to warmly welcome you all to today’s briefing on the results achieved by the United Nations in the Kyrgyz Republic in 2024 in collaboration with the Government and our valued other partners, as well as our strategic priorities for 2025.

I am also particularly happy that we are joined by several Deputy Ministers who are co-chairs of our joint coordination bodies that ensure alignment of our work with Government priorities.

Earlier this month, on 11 June, we convened with the Government for the Joint Strategic Coordination Committee (JSC), where we reviewed progress and formally adopted the Joint Work Plans for 2025. These Work Plans, developed under the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2023–2027, are fully aligned with the Government’s national development strategies and provide a solid foundation for the year ahead. The Co-Chairs from both the Government and the UN will present the essence of these work plans shortly. 

Before doing so, I will briefly reflect on our collective achievements in 2024, and our way of working. 

The UN Country Team—27 agencies, funds and programs—implemented more than 180 projects and initiatives last year, supporting the achievement of Kyrgyzstan’s development priorities, including the country’s international commitments. Our work advanced the four priority areas of the current Cooperation Framework—social services and decent work, inclusive green economic development, climate action, environmental protection and disaster risk reduction, as well as governance, human rights and peacebuilding. You can see the budgetary allocation on the slide for each priority area and the total, which amounts to USD 57.3 million.

Across sectors, we saw tangible progress: more than 100,000 vulnerable people reached through employment and social protection programs; 1.4 million students engaged in modernized, competency-based education under the “Altyn Kazyk” reform; early warning systems protecting over 150,000 people from climate-related hazards; and SMEs, especially women-led enterprises, generating new contracts worth USD 25 million.

Also, a strong normative agenda drove the partnership between the UN and the Kyrgyz Republic: The UN supported Parliament in strengthening SDG oversight mechanisms and expanding the availability of free legal aid, while working with other partners on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, social cohesion, and addressing the needs of border communities.

Additionally, we have started supporting the Government in developing the third generation of Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Climate Agreement, which will set the future course of Kyrgyzstan’s national climate commitments across all sectors and is expected to be presented at COP30 later this year in Brazil. I expect the updated commitments to be fully integrated in the Action Plan that is going to be developed, underpinning the country’s new 2030 National Development Strategy. 

A key milestone is Kyrgyzstan’s Second Voluntary National Review, developed since last summer, which the Government will present next month at the High-Level Political Forum in New York, and which the entire UN system supported with expertise, data and research. Kyrgyzstan’s Second VNR, which reviews SDG achievement, is prepared by the Government with broad engagement of civil society and development partners. It highlights Kyrgyzstan’s leadership in promoting mountain and cryosphere protection globally, and its commitment to social inclusion and the principle of “leaving no one behind”—but it also acknowledges the remaining structural challenges of poverty, inequality and vulnerability that still need to be addressed. In so doing, it reiterates the Government’s strong commitment to the SDGs in general, and to the eradication of poverty and inequalities specifically, in line with President Japarov’s commitments at both the SDG Summit and the Summit of the Future, respectively. 

In line with these findings, the Joint Work Plans adopted with the Government for 2025 will focus on promoting inclusive green economic growth, deepening climate resilience, strengthening social systems, and advancing governance reform, social cohesion and peacebuilding. 

To advance these priorities more effectively and in line with the UN systems reform, the UN Country Team will continue to place an even stronger emphasis on joint programming and partnerships: we now have nine joint initiatives in place—including six Peacebuilding Fund programs, two Joint SDG Fund initiatives on digital health and SDG localization, and the Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and are looking to expand joint programming including in areas such as gender-based violence and electoral assistance.

Yet if we are to continue delivering results of this scale and ambition, together we must also address a critical issue: funding.

Today, the UN system globally—including here in Kyrgyzstan—is under increasing financial strain. Core funding—the most flexible resource, which enables the UN to align to national priorities and deliver integrated solutions—has fallen dramatically: in Kyrgyzstan, from USD 10.1 million in 2024 to USD 5.6 million this year. At the same time, a growing share of available funding is earmarked—locked into narrow sectors, projects or geographical areas—limiting our ability to respond strategically and comprehensively.

This is already having a real impact on the ground. In early 2025, funding gaps forced several UN agencies here to scale down or suspend programs. Important work in disaster risk reduction, migration, HIV prevention, and child protection was directly affected, while reductions in core funding impact our ability to respond quickly to emerging requests from the our partners in Government or others. 

Against this backdrop, the 2024 Funding Compact—adopted last year in ECOSOC by UN Member States—is more relevant than ever. It provides a voluntary framework for smarter, more effective development finance. And it calls on donors and the UN system alike to shift towards: more predictable, flexible core funding; more joint pooled funding at country level; better alignment of resources to national priorities; and more transparency for donor funding’s impacts. 

In short: to fund not fragmentation, but coherence of the whole UN system. Not isolated projects, but integrated, transformative results.

Additionally, operational efficiencies remain a priority. Over the past two years, we have achieved over USD 1 million in cost-avoidance gains—through joint procurement, harmonization of cash transfers, and shared services. These efforts will continue to scale.

But the central challenge is securing the right kind of funding: resources that allow us to plan strategically, integrate efforts, and respond flexibly to national needs.

A key part of this is the development of pooled funding mechanisms—and I would like to draw your particular attention to the Kyrgyzstan Conservation Trust Fund (CTF), now in advanced preparation.

The CTF is planned to be established as a Multi-Partner Trust Fund to mobilize sustainable, long-term financing for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem protection in Kyrgyzstan. It will bring together public and private partners to support both grant-based conservation action and innovative investments—strengthening mountain ecosystem resilience, supporting local livelihoods, and contributing to regional climate and water security. Allow me to encourage you to invest in this flagship mechanism, which will not only help protect Kyrgyzstan’s unique biodiversity but also contribute to stability and prosperity across the region.

An additional Leave No One Behind pooled fund is under consideration to better coordinate and scale up support to vulnerable groups. 

In parallel, we are engaging with donors and Government to explore different sources for financing—including innovative tools such as debt-for-nature swaps, blended finance, and private sector partnerships.

Excellencies,

Dear participants,

I want to close with a simple message: the UN system in Kyrgyzstan is delivering—and stands ready to deliver more. But to do so, we need your partnership. We need a shift towards core funding and pooled mechanisms. We need investments that incentivize collaboration and integration as well as results and impact.

In a world of growing challenges—from climate change to inequality to fragile peace—our collective responsibility here in Kyrgyzstan is to ensure that our support remains not only adequate in scale, but fit for purpose.

Together—with smarter finance, closer collaboration, and a shared commitment to the 2030 Agenda—we can help Kyrgyzstan advance her vision for sustainable, inclusive development, which she has just eloquently framed in the new 2030 National Development Strategy.

Thank you for your continued trust and support.